Diagnosticum



Jan. 22, 1935.

D. D. sToNEcYPHER 1,988,634

vDIAGNOSTICUM Filed Aug. 3l, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l Ear, Nose, Throat,lalze wen numtur Sttnrnrgs.

Jan. 22, 1935. D. D. sToNEcYPHER 1,988,634

-DIAGNosTICUM Filed Aug. 3l, 1935 2. Sheets-Sheet 2 6. Ears, Deafness(of one or both) Ear, Nose, Throat -3` Y l: 'IIE= c yD :l

q a i 1. Anemia (Lovi"Red"Count) Ear, Nose, Throat 5 9 Z 3 lil l; :a

z8. Eer, Drum-head Enlarged cr Bulging Il 1 1 L El I l yleknmnturPatented Jan. 22, `1935 l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DIAGNOSTICUM n`David D. Stonecypher,Nebraska City, Nebr. l Application August'sl',1933, serial No. 687,702

l iclaim. (o1. `85--12) This invention relates to a means fordetermining diagnosis and while it is more especially designed for thediagnosis of diseases itcan be used eiciently in other fields ofinvestigation or classi- 5 cation, the existence of any cause, fact orcategory being'sought or ascertained by a study of the known effectsthereof, or of the known related facts, gures or other data, vthevarious combinationsof which are such as toy indicate withvaryingfdegrees of probability, the causes, facts or and possibilitieshave been possible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a key card or thelike on which are arranged all possible conclusions apertaining to thesubject under investigation and to employ in connection therewith'screen cards or the like selected because of predetermined symptoms orother characteristics and provided with openings through which willappear those conclusions portrayed on the key card which contain thesymptoms or characteristics indicated by the particular key card.

It is a further object to provide screen cards or the like havingopenings of different sizes to indicate whether or not the exposedconclusions are certain, probable, or possible where the selectedsymptoms o-r characteristics are present in the matter underinvestigation.

In applying the improvements to diagnosis of diseases the result is`obtained through the knowledge of symptoms of the various diseasesunder consideration, it being understood that the invention is to beused only where all of the symptoms point to a single disease.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details ofconstruction and combinations of parts and in certain steps of themethod hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims,it being understood that changes may be made in the construction andarrangement of parts and in the disclosed method without departing lfromthe spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a key card for use in diagnosing diseases ofthe ear, nose and throat.

Figure 2 is a similar View showing a symptom or screen card appliedthereto for eliminating some of the indicated diseases and for partlyeliminating other diseases in different degrees toindicate rbeeneliminated.y

' Figure 5 is a similar view showing the addition vof another symptom orscreen card resulting in the elimination' of all buty one disease,thereby l5 giving 'a nal and deniteconclusion based uponr theindicatedsymptoms. Referring to the gures by characters of Vreference 1designates a 4cardscreen or the like on which are printed or otherwisedisplayed the names of various diseases and other conditions possiblewhere ailments develop in the ear, nose and throat. These names, whichhave been indicated generally at 2, 3, A, B, C, D and E are spaced apartin their respective columns.

Associated with each key card 1is a series of symptoms or other screencards somerof which have been indicated at 4, 5, 6 and 7. One of thesecards is provided for each symptom present in one or more of `thediseases listed on the key card. For example, the symptom or screen card4 4is provided forA indicating those diseases in which a symptom is apain in the region of the ear. Openings are formed in this card 4'as fshown at`8 and are so located as to fully expose the names of vthosediseases yin which a pain in the region of the ear is a certain orpositive symptom. In some diseases such a symptom indicates probabilityof those diseases while in some other diseases a pain in the region ofthe ear indicates only a possibility of those ailments. For the purposeof indicating these distinctions of certainties, probabilitiesV andpossibilities, the openings are made of dilerent widths. The full widthopenings fully exposing the names of the ailments thereunder anddesignated at 8 indicate certainties. Narrower openings exposing onlyportions of the names of the ailments theref under indicateprobabilities and have been designated at 9. Narrower openings or slitsthrough which the indicated ailments'are barely visible, indicatepossibilities. These have been illustrated at 10.

By referring to Figures 1 and 2 it will be noted that when the card 4 isapplied various ailments,

to i

including osteophlebitic, mastoiditis, indicated at 3 will be exposedwhereas certain other ailments will be only partly exposed. Among theseare Septic sore throat indicated at A and Necrosis of mandible indicatedat C, both of which are only partly exposed through very narrow slits 10thereby indicating that there is a slight indication of these ailmentsor, in other words, that there is a possibility of either ailment being`present.l Another aihnent indicated at B, namely, ,"Acutelaryngo-tracheitisk is exposed to a greater extent by the wide slot 9thereby vindicating a probability of that ailment.

Following the applicationof the symptom card 4 the diagnosis can becontinued by placing*` thereover cards identified by other symptoms. Forinstance, if the patient is deaf in one or both ears, the card 5 isplaced over card as ini-Eigure :3. This results in covering up thosediseases in which deafness is not a symptom and leaves a reduced numberof ailments in which deafness `isfeither a certainty or. a probability.VAmong those..ail ments Vthus eliminated are those indicated at A, Band. Cv which had vpreviously been considered possibilities .orprobabilities but two .of `the ail- 1.

exposed, .namelyl osteoplilebitic mastoiditis as indicated at 3. Thusthrough a system of elimination it becomes possible to determine with areasonable degree of accuracy any ailment in the group for which thesystem is designed.

Although only five symptom or screen cards have been illustrated, it isto be understood that one of these cards is to be provided for everysymptom which is certain, probable or possible in connection with anyone or all of the ailments listed on the .key card and each.of thesescreen or symptom cards will have displayed/,thereon not onlythe symptomappertaining thereto but also a number whereby the cards can bemaintained in regular order and easily located by means of an indexofsymptoms.

While the present invention is designed privmarily for use in thediagnosis of diseases. it is possible,as heretofore stated, to followthe same method of elimination in other fields oi. investigation orclassication, the present improvements being .useful 11n-,that thesymptoms cannot only be usedfor indicating certaintiesbut'also for in-'dicating` .probabilities and possibilities.'

`What is vclaimed is:

over Vthe Akeycard, `eachscreen Acardfbeing provided foradistinguishing.characteristic `of one or more of .said conclusionsIand' having .means .f ythereon for indicating said characteristic,there ,being apluralityof openings in-eachfcard-for eX- Vposing thoseconclusions to which the said characteristic applies, theopeningsvbeingof dii'erent -sizes to indicate the certainty,probability andpossibility, respectively, of the presence` of `said characteristicinthe exposed conclusions. p

' DAVID D. STONE'CYPHER.

A diagnosticum includin'gxakey card havingy vseparate conclusions`displayed thereon, and a plurality of screen `cards adaptedto vbeplaced

